Forum Discussion
Sign in with a Google account - Discussion
Hey, everyone! Thanks so much for this discussion, we've learned a lot from your comments. We'd like to first make it clear that we do not plan to integrate Google services into Microsoft Edge by default. We are considering including an opt-in experience for users to attach their Google account to Microsoft Edge but are not ready to make a decision on it just yet.
I'd like to take this time to reiterate what Elliot posted back in November: One option available to you today to use a single user identifier across the various services you use is to create a new Microsoft Account using a @gmail address.
As you know, you can currently import your data from Chrome by going to edge://settings/importData. You can also sign into Google websites and remember your password in Microsoft Edge to reduce the number of times you need to sign in. Accessing your Microsoft Edge data on-the-go is easily done by signing into Microsoft Edge with a Microsoft account and syncing with Microsoft Edge across other devices and mobile.
As always, we will update here once we have more information. Please continue to provide your feedback and suggestions around this feature; the team will continue to review feedback even if we have moved something to Not Planned.
I don't have a personal dog in this fight (to the extent possible I refrain from using the Google ecosystem, and until Microsoft releases a Linux version of Edge in another year or two, Firefox will remain my primary browser) but I think it appropriate to make a few quiet observations:
(1) Although Microsoft has made it clear (see "Best Response") that it does not "plan to integrate Google services into Microsoft Edge by default", Microsoft is "considering including an opt-in experience for users to attach their Google account to Microsoft Edge".
(2) Microsoft welcomes continued discussion of this and other topics related to integration with Google/Chrome (again, see "Best Response") for users who would find integration at one level or another useful: "Please continue to provide your feedback and suggestions around this feature; the team will continue to review feedback even if we have moved something to Not Planned."
This discussion thread seems to have developed a lot of acrimony, but I think that the acrimony is misplaced, in part, because the nature of the request by Google users in this and other similar threads has been misunderstood.
The requested feature (ability to sign in with a Google account) does not require Microsoft "to integrate Google services into Microsoft Edge by default". Instead, the requested feature (and other forms of integration suggested in other threads like the discussion thread "Ongoing sync between Microsoft Edge and Chrome - Discussion" and similar) requires only that Microsoft give users who want to be tied into the Google ecosystem for one reason or another the ability to "opt-in" if desired.
It seems to me that Edge can be "Google-free" by default (for me that is a minimal requirement for any browser I would be willing to use), but still allow users who want to be (or need to be) tied into the Google ecosystem to have the option of activating integration at one level or another through toggles or extensions, in much the same way as "Turn Windows Feathers on and off" allows users to opt-in or opt-out of Windows services.
Google-dependent users have a legitimate reason for requesting integration, and "opt-in" integration does not require Microsoft to turn its back on its decision to make "unGoogle" Edge by default. Microsoft seems to recognize this by acknowledging that Microsoft "is considering including an opt-in experience for users to attach their Google account to Microsoft Edge".
If this discussion continues, it might make sense to focus on what Microsoft could/should do rather than on what Google does, and to focus on "opt-in" integration as a service to Google users rather than arguing about whether or not Microsoft should "integrate Google services into Microsoft Edge by default".
- I agree 100% percent, especially with your last paragraph. I just want to clarify that I never even suggested that Edge should integrate the Google ecosystem "by default". As long as it simply leaves a window open for those who need to sign in through Gooogle, it would be good enough. Anyway, it doesn't even matter that much to me if I don't get to try out Edge. It's not like there aren't enough great alternatives. I'm just peeved by people taking such hard loyalist positions on two companies that have clearly BOTH been evil more times than we can count, but at the same time have also done an extraordinary amount of good for the world as a whole. If anything, they should be encouraged to listen to their users' needs and become more flexible, rather than retrench deeper and deeper into open warfare. But some people seem to be driven by resentment, spite and desire for revenge almost as a way of life, as though a blood feud has ever done anyone any good. Unfortunately, they bring this same attitude into an area that requires a rational, cool approach, based on listening to people's needs and building bridges, rather than more walls.
- I think do anything with "sell your soul for a buck" Google is asking for trouble sooner or later. It be liking to waving your hand in front of a gator without getting bit... How many times do you think you can do this before you finally get bit...? How long do you think it would take Google to figure out how to use the door you just opened to get in and start getting everyone's info giving that they have proven over and over and over that they are NOT trustable?
Justmy20cents
Dennis5mileDennis5mile "How long do you think it would take Google to figure out how to use the door you just opened to get in and start getting everyone's info giving that they have proven over and over and over that they are NOT trustable?"
It seems to me that the answer to that question , which I do not purport to know, is almost entirely dependent on the level of security deployed by Microsoft in protecting individual user information stored in the Microsoft ecosystem, and the effectiveness of Microsoft's security measures.
As background, I think that we need to come to a common understanding of what "opt-in", in the sense that I'm talking about it, means and how it would work. Edge is by default "unGoogled", with no material links or ties to Google services. Unless and until a user elected to "opt-in", the user would remain in default configuration, with no material links or ties to Google services. If a user elects to "opt-in", then code would be added to that user's Edge configuration (through an extension or directly in the browser in much the same way that code is added to Windows 10 when a user elects to activate Hyper-V) to support browser-level integration into Google services selected by the user. The code added by a user electing to "opt-in" would not be added to the Edge configuration of any user who did not "opt-in".
Assuming that is our common understanding of how "opt-in" would work, it seems to me that:
(1) Microsoft-stored information of a user who did not "opt-in" would not be at more risk than the information would otherwise be at risk. Without a link into Google services, Google would have no direct way to track the user's information, so the only point of compromise would be through a hack of Microsoft's servers on which the user's information is stored.
(2) Microsoft-stored information of a user who did "opt-in" would be at more risk than the information would otherwise be at risk, indirectly, it seems to me, because "opt-in" opens the user's browser to direct tracking by Google, and that makes it more likely that Google would be able to collect information about that user's activities, including browser-based activities within the Microsoft ecosystem. The information stored on Microsoft servers would be (assuming that Microsoft protects that information with a reasonable level of security) at no more risk of a hack than otherwise, but the user's browser-based activities could be collected by Google, with the effective result that Google would be able to gather some or all of the user's information stored on Microsoft servers, even though information stored on Microsoft servers would not have been directly compromised.
A question I have (and don't know the answer to) is whether "opt-in" (which is not currently supported) adds risk over and above allowing users to sign into Google services (gMail, gMaps and so on) through Edge without "opt-in" (which is currently supported). As we both know, ties into Google services are persistent and pervasive. I think that we have to assume that signing into Google services increases risk, whether or not a user "opts-in", and Edge -- to be blunt -- lacks basic security measures (containers, for example, which allow a user to isolate Google websites from the rest of the browser) to mitigate the risk that Google tracking extends beyond the Google ecosystem if a user signs into a Google account. As I said, I don't know, but I don't see the risks of "opt-in" are higher than the risks of "sign-in" without "opt-in".
I don't know what to say beyond that. Obviously any information stored online (in the Microsoft ecosystem, the Google ecosystem, with Amazon and other retailers, with Facebook, Twitter and other social media, and with other online sites that use cookies to collect and/or store user information) should be considered at risk. Security is never perfect and often not adequate. I trust that Microsoft's security is tight, but I operate on the assumption that Microsoft's security will be breached sooner or later and that some or all of the information that Microsoft collects and stores with respect to my MSA and/or online activities within the Microsoft ecosystem will be exposed.
The bottom line, though, is this: I don't think that allowing some Edge users to "opt-in" to Google services changes the risk equation for Edge users who do not "opt-in", assuming that the "opt-in" option is properly configured so that "opt-in" code is added to the browser upon demand rather than embedded.
